“Angie?”
Sitting on her front porch, the night turning to day, Angeline held her arms to her chest and waited.
Once he was gone, again, she had fallen to the ground, a sobbing heap wanting nothing more than for him to come back. It fell to Terri to pick her up and guide her back to the car.
“At least you have closure,” she said.
Not at all. She had nothing but questions. How was he still alive? What did he really think of her now?
Would she ever see him again?
“Angie?”
Brent Wilkins, using his cane in earnest, shuffled to her side and sat.
“Honey, you should get some sleep,” Brent said.
Angeline smiled at her dad and groaned into the dawn.
“How can I sleep when I don’t know where he is?” she asked. “When he was in prison, at least I knew…”
Nothing had gone according to their script, and now he was probably lost to a man with whom she could never really compete. Noel had history on his side; Angeline only had, thought she had, his heart.
“At least he’s alive,” Angeline managed as she twisted around her father’s warm hold.
It was something. Not the future that she had imagined, not the dream that she couldn’t help but fall back into when she felt his strong hands on her skin, But she would take it. Try hard not to cry herself to sleep each and every night and remember the times when—
“What the hell?”
Brent’s voice stalled her thoughts. Lifting her head, Angeline heard familiar sounds, saw a familiar figure racing its way across the horizon.
“Angie?” Brent said. “Hold up.”
Ignoring her father, she stepped farther and farther away from her home and held her breath. Trying hard not to blink, she held her breath as Kane rode into view.
“Hey,” he said, stalling his bike as he spoke.
Angeline had no words as he finally climbed off and moved to her side. She swooned at the nearness of him, and her mind swirled with questions.
“How…?”
It was all she could get out as Kane stood before her. Battered and bruised.
“Oh!” she cried. “What the hell happened—?”
Angeline tried to touch his face as Kane flinched back.
“Nothing,” he said. “It… it doesn’t matter.”
This was what she had feared he had suffered in prison, because of her. But those were just dark dreams. This was real.
“Noel,” Angeline stated plainly.
Kane’s eyes fell with a mirthless laugh.
“You should see the shape he’s in,” Kane said. “I—”
He suddenly stopped, and Angeline turned as she felt a shadow falling over her back.
“Dad!”
Brent was shuffling, nearly at her side. Still using the cane, he was actually walking. And in spite of everything, a small smile formed on Angeline’s face. She took hold of his arm, her eyes filling with pride. But Brent was not looking at her.
His stare was only for Kane.
“Uh… hello, Mr. Wilkins,” he said.
Kane tried to smooth away his stubble, wincing as his hands touched his face. Angeline felt his pain and wanted nothing more than to bring him inside, lay him down.
Bathe his face with a cool, damp cloth.
“So you’re back,” Brent said. “Bound to be trouble.”
Kane tried to answer, but it came out as an unintelligible grunt. Not wanting anymore pain for him, not one more bruise on his face for his heart, Angeline pressed her hands to her hips and tilted her head to her father.
“You know what he did for us… for me, Dad,” Angeline started. “He sacrificed everything. How can you be so—?”
She stopped when Brent gripped his cane tighter. For a second, she wondered if he would use it on Kane, on his bike. But to her surprise, he simply limped closer to Kane.
“Thing is,” Brent continued, “I’ve gotten used to her company. Night after night.”
Brent sadly glanced back at his daughter.
“But I guess… no.”
He took Angeline’s shoulders and softly kissed her cheek.
“Her sentence is over, too.”
Angeline relaxed at the realization that he was not about to give their savior a hard time and stretched to tips of her toes to hug him, to whisper into his ear.
“You were never a prison, Dad,” she said. “And I don’t even know why he’s here.”
Brent pushed back with a laugh.
“I do,” he said. Extending his hand, Kane took it slowly. After a single shake, he looked at the bike.
“Just be careful,” Brent said. “Both of you.”
They stood in silence as Brent limped back to the house. Once the door was closed, Angeline was hesitant to face him. What lies had Noel spun now? Would he hate her for coming between them? Still, this might be another chance to explain.
“Kane, I—”
“No.”
That word felt like a death sentence.
“Not here,” he said. “Let’s take a ride.”
She recalled the first time on the back of his chopper, trembling as he hoisted her to the back. It was the night when he had brought her into his world, and she wanted to ride the air again, feel the wind in her face.
And hold him.
“You remember what to do?” Kane asked.
Easy as riding a bike…
Wrapping her arms around him, she felt the motor pulsing around her thighs and held on tighter as he sped off into the night for parts unknown.
As they rode, Angeline dared to rest her head against his back. He wouldn’t be here if he didn’t believe her. Had Noel failed? She had to hope for that. If he would just give her the proper chance, she could make Kane believe everything.
As the bike stopped, Angeline lifted her eyes. Trees swayed, and her heart swelled with new hope. Could he be after a new beginning? He had already done more for her than she had any right to ask.
Could they really turn back time?
“Here,” he said. “Let me…”
Angeline sank into his strong arms and pressed her palms to his broad chest. When they were together, Kane had pulsed around her and groaned into her neck. She liked that. Liked the feel of him satisfied against, around her flesh. They didn’t need words when he lingered inside her and stroked her sides. It was a scene just for them, and Angeline felt it coming back.
Then he broke character.
“We should really talk,” Kane said.
He eased her away from him and held her at arm’s length. It was the last place that she wanted to be, but she swallowed and resolved to meet him on this new playing field.
“If that’s what you want.”
“It’s what has to happen.”
Taking her hand, Kane led her to a soft place below one of the many trees, and they sat. Her nails traced the surface of his palm, and she every curve of his flesh filled her mind. It was like he had never left, but it wasn’t supposed to be like this. Their reunion had seemed destined to be a promise of everything that they would finally share.
This felt like her last chance to touch him. Fearing that she would remain trapped in memories, images and feelings that would intensify by way of their distance, Angeline gripped his hand tighter and held her breath.
“What do want to talk about?” she asked, her voice knowing and sad.
“You were at the clubhouse today?” he asked.
Again, she couldn’t lie.
“I… I was looking for—”
“And you saw Noel?”
She wished that she hadn’t, wished that she had never met him. Kane could have kept her safe if…
If she hadn’t bent the rules for her father. Everything came back to her.
So here they were, time fixed in the present, no way of going back.
That was her fault, too.
“He… he didn’t hurt you again?” Kane asked. “Did he?”
Impossible as it was, Angeline silently prayed that that he had heard, that he believed her side of the story.
“No,” she said, losing herself in his dark eyes. “Not again.”
Kane grimaced and turned his bruised face away from hers.
“But he did,” Kane said. “He…”
When he couldn’t finish his thought, Angeline felt the agony in his touch and lost his eyes as they clenched shut .Even with his hand in hers, she felt like this was losing him. And vile as Noel was, Kane needed something to hold onto.
“I… didn’t say no,” Angeline said. “I couldn’t even speak. So if you have to be angry, you can be that with me.”
Kane peered into her eyes, his face morphing into a mask of torment, and she waited for the blast. Here was where he would leave her. He believed Noel’s version. Why would he believe in her? She had meant nothing but lost years and hard time.
“Should I be angry with you?” he asked.
Angeline wanted to tell him no, that her heart had always had been and was still his. But Noel might have made him believe otherwise, and she ducked her head.
“Never. But...”
She was back in the place where Noel ran his hands over her body. Nothing that she had liked or even wanted, but it had happened. And Kane had a right to be furious with her for the supposed betrayal.
“But I should have known that you wouldn’t leave me,” she said. “I shouldn’t have been so weak.”
Kane cocked his head and touched her chin.
“You?” he asked. “Weak?”
She wasn’t. She had been tricked. It wasn’t her fault. Not Kane’s fault either. Angeline started to remember everything that she had known when he was with her, presented her, protected her. She wasn’t weak; she had been lied to. Both of them betrayed.
“No,” she said. “But it still happened.”
She couldn’t lie to him.
Angeline bowed her head and awaited his inevitable departure. She had confessed, and this would be the end. Five long years leading to the goodbye.
“But it’s not what you wanted, right?” he asked.
Hope bloomed in her chest, and Angeline found his eyes again. Soft. Kind of sweet. Unable to speak, she only shook her head as he released her hand.
Then he pulled her into his arms.
“Kane—”
“Shhh.”
His hands studied her face, seeming to memorize each curve, every pore, and Angeline tuned her eyes back to his.
“I saw it,” Kane said. “He can force a girl to do anything.”
Angeline was nearly back in the space of being complicit, and she started to turn away. She had barely made a move when Kane pressed her close and breathed into her eyes.
“I won’t force you,” he said.
As Kane’s lips beckoned, Angeline tried to ask him if this was real.
And then he stilled her with the force of his kiss.
Kane tasted different. Sad. She had done that. But as their tongues entwined, she basked in the familiar feel of his arms and drew him deeper into her embrace.
“I want that,” she said.
Sighing into her hair, Kane reached under her blouse. His hands found her breasts, tense, and she followed his lead, brought his hands closer to her body.
“I want you, Kane. Only you.”
He kissed her again as he pressed her into the grass. The blades mingled with her hair as he eased the blouse away from her sides. Not a rip. Never a rip. This was him, and as her bra fell away, she waited for him to lean forward and bathe her breasts.
It was a short wait.
“Angel…”
As he suckled her breasts, Angeline tensed as his tongue started and stopped around her nipples. He stayed like that until his tongue found her lips again.
The she sighed.
“Just let me come home,” Kane said.
This was what she had wanted to hear, what she had needed. A single chance to get him back. But her unintentional sin might still be more than he could stand. She—
“My sweet Angel.”
Angeline breathed hard. She had no hope of speaking when his arms surrounded her quivering body. She was lifted off the ground to the place when she was on top of him. Looking down, she brushed her hand across his face as he kissed her neck.
“I missed you, Kane,” she said. “I missed you so—”
Before she knew what was happening, Kane pressed her back into the grass.
“Not as much as I missed you,” he said.
As he brought his mouth to hers, Angeline’s doubts fell away, and she stretched closer.
To taste him again.
“Kane, I—”
She started to tell him all the ways in which she had been lonely, desperate to explain her betrayal away. But he stopped her speech with a new kiss, his head twirling just below her tight throat.
“Look into my eyes.”
She found his gaze and waited. In silence, Kane traced the outline of her face. As his finger fell to her mouth, Angeline parted her lips and ran her tongue around his flesh. Somehow his sigh lifted her from the ground. Grabbing his face, she desperately kissed his mouth, his cheeks, and he winced when her eager lips crashed into one of his many bruises.
“Oh!” she cried. “I’m sorry. I—”
“Stop,” Kane ordered. “I don’t want you like that.”
She sank back to the grass as he pulled off his shirt. His muscles rippled in the moonlight, and she saw his crew’s insignia curling down his left arm. But there was something new. His right shoulder bore some crazy cursive, and she gasped as she reached for the new ink.
“When did you—”
“In the joint,” he whispered. “It’s for you. You like?”
Now Angeline’s eyes brimmed with tears. He had served her time. A lesser man might have grown bitter, his heart filling with hate as the days slipped into months and then years. But Kane came out the other side with her name, with Angel branded on his skin.
Just as he was still on her heart.
As she slowly nodded, Angeline felt his hands running up her legs. He gripped her thighs, and she happily writhed around his touch. All the time apart seemed to fall away as he kneaded her tender flesh. She found his hand and held him closer to her body. Kane drifted back to her mouth, kissed her hard, and she sighed as his touch moved between her legs.
Suddenly, he stopped, even as his pulse raced all around her.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I… I mean… Are you okay with this?” Kane asked. “After what Noel did to you? I should have…”
Kane hung his head, and for a second, Angeline was pushed back to the place where she was manipulated, violated, taken without love. She tensed at the memory of Noel plowing into her on the back of a lie, and a shudder coursed through her veins.
But then she fixed her gaze on Kane, his sweet face, his breath falling across her throat.
He was wonderful to ask, but now there was only one way to answer his question.
“Just come back to me,” she pleaded, her voice wanting and hoarse.
Kane hesitated for only a second more. Belief filled his eyes, and he kissed her again as he eased her panties down her trembling thighs. She kicked them aside as he lifted up her skirt. Angeline peeled it away as he slid out of his jeans, his shorts.
And then she saw all of him.
His cock was hard, throbbing as he lowered himself back to her body. Without hesitation, Angeline eased her legs apart. He was gentle as he grazed her moist mound, and she held his massive arms in her small hands. With one nod, he worked his way inside her, deeper.
“Oh, Kane…”
He felt better than she had ever remembered, better than ever. His smooth length slinked inside her, and she opened like a flower. He throbbed around her and brushed the curls from her eyes.
“You’re finally here,” she whispered as she dotted his chest with soft kisses. Working her way to his mouth, she stopped short of his lips and wrapped her arms around his broad back.
“You’re home,” she said.
Placing one hand under her chin, he titled her gaze to his and smiled.
“Finally,” Kane said. “I think we both are.”
Keeping her eyes on his, Kane started to pulse. His thrusts were strong and sure, and Angeline closed her eyes, wanting nothing more than to savor the sensation of his cock. Every time he pulled back, she felt as if she was back in the years without him, and she moaned for more. But when he slipped back inside, drove deeper than she could ever have imagined, and her heart swelled with joy. Her cunt burned around him, and she dug her nails into his skin.
“Just stay with me,” she said. “Please.”
The absence of his cock became another bad memory, and she twirled her legs around his taut thighs. When he lifted her from the grass she stroked his hair, the sweat pouring from his brow as he forced her body ever closer to his. But this wasn’t Noel; that wasn’t the last thing she wanted.
“I’m never leaving you again, Angel.”
He expanded inside her, and she screamed into the fading night as he fell to his back. Her hands failed her, but Kane’s cock kept her in place. Following his lead, she rode him like a stallion towards freedom. No more loneliness, no more doubt. Just his power pulsing between legs, and Angeline taking all of him in until—
“Oh, God!” she screamed.
He started to explode inside her, and she stretched towards the air as his lust filled her. It streamed towards her brain, and she grew dizzy, dancing close to the edge of sleep. But not wanting to lose even one more moment of him, she shook her head and fell forward. Clasping his neck, she crushed her lips to his and kissed him quickly. He sighed into her mouth, and she was suddenly wide awake as his arms surrounded her. Kane stopped short, suspending her in a place where she might want to linger forever, the moment of where he would always be ready to take her. Struggling to calm her breath, she started to accept this fate when he brought her back to the grass.
“No more waiting,” he said, peering intently into her eyes.
Then he released. Kane flooded her cunt and she pulled at the green blades as she sank deeper into the dirt. His desire swirled inside her, and Angeline moaned. His stream reached every part of her tingling frame, and as his warmth slipped under her skin, she felt him fall to her side, staying inside her as he held her close.
They waited until his need diminished, but Kane did not pull out. He stayed inside her as he kissed her hair.
“So we’re good?” he asked.
She laughed into his neck, her smile expanding as he stroked her hair.
“Perfect,” she whispered. “Just you and me.”
Leaning up on her elbows, she winked.
“And my dad,” she teased. “We’ll have to have him to dinner. Now and again.”
Kane smiled sadly as he finally left her. But he kept her in his arms, and she rested her head to her name on his shoulder.
“Guess your hospitality won’t extend to the brothers,” Kane said.
Angeline started up, he eyes wide.
“What… You can’t mean…?”
How could he even think of staying with them after what Noel had done?
“Kane, you—”
“I can’t leave club,” he said. “They’re my family, too.”
Angeline started to turn away from him when he pulled her close. His hands moved down her sides as his lips met her cheeks. She started to protest, to remind him of all the ways in which it was better if they stayed like this, just the two of them. But as his eyes grew wide, she remembered the story of the little boy rescued by Noel from eating the scraps of other men. Whatever other sin he might have committed, Noel had still saved him, and she had already taken so much from him.
“But,” Kane started. “You have my word. Noel will keep his distance. Just…”
He kissed her quickly as he caressed her cheeks.
“Just promise me that I’ll always have you, Angel. Please?”
Even as she loathed the idea that he would stay in Noel’s orbit, she believed that he would always keep her safe.
“I’m yours,” she said as she kissed him again and they rested under the brightening sky.